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adperfectamconsilium's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
'The very day the house was bought they began to see flaws in it.'
The prologue tells us the end and yet this takes nothing away from the story.
A book of epic length but an almost mundane quest. Mr Biswas just wants a house of his own.
Set in Trinidad and following the fortunes of two Indian families, Mr Biswas and his family and the Tulsi's into which he marries there's a sense of dislocation to his life throughout. A feeling of never belonging. Living with in laws and rented accommodation. Following Hindu customs in a different country than his ancestors.
The book is the story of his life. Filled with bad luck from the start there's a darkly comic thread throughout as his misfortunes, many of which he brings on himself, shine a light on the frustrations, aggravations and struggles with mental well-being that we all experience.
I started the novel thinking I'd be invested in seeing him try to achieve his goal of owning his own house and yet he's a very unlikeable character. But so are the rest of the cast. They bicker and argue, extended Tulsi family living under one roof, flogging the children on a regular basis.
It's not a page turner. The slow pace and the frustrations felt at the way the characters acted led to me putting the book aside often while reading other books.
But as I neared halfway it all clicked. I related more to the humour and started noticing the dialogue more with characters coming out with funny, clever and entertaining comments.
It's a book to take slowly just like life. It's beauty is in showing all the setbacks and struggles life throws at us and if we've not achieved everything we imagined that maybe it doesn't matter because we can lay the foundations for the next generation.
The writing style sucks you in, immerses you in the families and culture.
It admits that life is a struggle for most and that we're not going to like everyone we meet.
I'm glad I persevered with this one. Mr Biswas led an ordinary but also extraordinary life and the ending was bitter sweet.
The prologue tells us the end and yet this takes nothing away from the story.
A book of epic length but an almost mundane quest. Mr Biswas just wants a house of his own.
Set in Trinidad and following the fortunes of two Indian families, Mr Biswas and his family and the Tulsi's into which he marries there's a sense of dislocation to his life throughout. A feeling of never belonging. Living with in laws and rented accommodation. Following Hindu customs in a different country than his ancestors.
The book is the story of his life. Filled with bad luck from the start there's a darkly comic thread throughout as his misfortunes, many of which he brings on himself, shine a light on the frustrations, aggravations and struggles with mental well-being that we all experience.
I started the novel thinking I'd be invested in seeing him try to achieve his goal of owning his own house and yet he's a very unlikeable character. But so are the rest of the cast. They bicker and argue, extended Tulsi family living under one roof, flogging the children on a regular basis.
It's not a page turner. The slow pace and the frustrations felt at the way the characters acted led to me putting the book aside often while reading other books.
But as I neared halfway it all clicked. I related more to the humour and started noticing the dialogue more with characters coming out with funny, clever and entertaining comments.
It's a book to take slowly just like life. It's beauty is in showing all the setbacks and struggles life throws at us and if we've not achieved everything we imagined that maybe it doesn't matter because we can lay the foundations for the next generation.
The writing style sucks you in, immerses you in the families and culture.
It admits that life is a struggle for most and that we're not going to like everyone we meet.
I'm glad I persevered with this one. Mr Biswas led an ordinary but also extraordinary life and the ending was bitter sweet.
kscaldwell's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
burrowsi1's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
sweet_sakura's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
- Loveable characters? No
4.25
cygny's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I read this as part of the Platinum buddy read a friend is hosting on Instagram. It's not the first book I've read but it was definitely the biggest. I admit that I considered DNF'ing it on several occasions. To be fair, I listened to this in audio as it was the only thing in my subscription and my local library doesn't have this.
I could not find a plot in this book, it's just an account of the life of the main character, Mr. Biswas. I'm not particularly a plot-minded person, but here I did struggle. Like another friend says, it just seems as of things just happen to Mr. Biswas. I agreed with that, I felt that he never took his own life in hand. There is one occasion where he puts all the blame on the people around him, where he's the one who's at least as much to blame. This attitude shines out through the entire book and it really made it difficult to read. I don't like characters like that.
Two other things which made the book hard to read for me. One, the many, many characters. I think hardly any of them are well fleshed out, we hardly see their motivations and they are mostly not nice people. Mr. Biswas also seems to have a lot of preconceived ideas about them (like his attention to his son and the lack thereof for his daughters) and even though I think some of them are wiser than him, it doesn't show in this book. The second thing (but as I said, this may be an audio thing, I probably missed stuff) is the lack of explications about the situation of the country or the social issues. I don't usually mind that not everything is explained, I love when a book makes me want to look things up. But here, I was mostly confused and I feel no urge whatsoever to try to get informed about it.
That said, the writing is really beautiful, which was the main reason I kept going and I'm giving this 3 stars.
I could not find a plot in this book, it's just an account of the life of the main character, Mr. Biswas. I'm not particularly a plot-minded person, but here I did struggle. Like another friend says, it just seems as of things just happen to Mr. Biswas. I agreed with that, I felt that he never took his own life in hand. There is one occasion where he puts all the blame on the people around him, where he's the one who's at least as much to blame. This attitude shines out through the entire book and it really made it difficult to read. I don't like characters like that.
Two other things which made the book hard to read for me. One, the many, many characters. I think hardly any of them are well fleshed out, we hardly see their motivations and they are mostly not nice people. Mr. Biswas also seems to have a lot of preconceived ideas about them (like his attention to his son and the lack thereof for his daughters) and even though I think some of them are wiser than him, it doesn't show in this book. The second thing (but as I said, this may be an audio thing, I probably missed stuff) is the lack of explications about the situation of the country or the social issues. I don't usually mind that not everything is explained, I love when a book makes me want to look things up. But here, I was mostly confused and I feel no urge whatsoever to try to get informed about it.
That said, the writing is really beautiful, which was the main reason I kept going and I'm giving this 3 stars.
trsr's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
ashleylm's review against another edition
4.0
This was a long time ago, and we had to read it for class (Commonwealth Literature). I barely remember plot details, but this was certainly my favourite of the books we'd read (much preferred to Things Fall Apart) ... it seemed very accessible to me, and was a bit like a Barbara Pym or Jane Austin, a nice book with lots of dialogue in a constrained social setting that (for whatever reason) simply made sense to me.
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
araehop's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lolatombola's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
1.25